Relief of Queen Tiye

Relief of Queen Tiye, the Great Royal Wife of King Amenhotep III, wearing the vulture headdress and uraeus. The fragment was part of a stele. From the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III at Western Thebes.

Tiye married Amenhotep III at the age of eleven or twelve in the second year of his reign, being approximately two years younger than her holy husband.

The very young couple seemed to complement each other from the first moment and they never parted again. The influence that Tiye had on the king, never seen before in the “Two Lands”, is undeniable.

So much so that, on the occasion of their marriage, Amenhotep III sent scarabs to all the neighboring monarchs in which he announced the existence of his first Great Royal Wife, as well as that of the all-powerful Yuya and Tjuyu.

From that moment, and to everyone’s surprise, Queen Tiye did not stop appearing in all the monuments built by her husband, and in conditions almost on the same level as him.

The political weight of the young queen was enormous, and she had no qualms about handling Amenhotep III, who had the immense luck of enjoying a long and prosperous reign.

It is said that Tiye was the true ruler in the shadows, aided by her mother-in-law Mutemwiya and by the indolence of her husband.

New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, reign of Amenhotep III, ca. 1375 BC. Now in the Neues Museum, Berlin, Germany. ÄM 23270